Abstract:
My research permitted me to reexamine my recent evaluations
of the Leaf Project given to the Foundation Year students during the
fall semester of 1997. My personal description of the drawing
curriculum formed part of the matrix of the Foundation Core Studies
at the Ontario College of Art and Design. Research was based on the
random selection of 1 8 students distributed over six of my teaching
groups. The entire process included a representation of all grade
levels.
The intent of the research was to provide a pattern of
alternative insights that could provide a more meaningful method of
evaluation for visual learners in an art education setting. Visual
methods of learning are indeed complex and involve the interplay of
many sensory modalities of input.
Using a qualitative method of research analysis, a series of
queries were proposed into a structured matrix grid for seeking out
possible and emerging patterns of learning. The grid provided for
interrelated visual and linguistic analysis with emphasis in
reflection and interconnectedness. Sensory-based modes of learning
are currently being studied and discussed amongst educators as
alternative approaches to learning.
As patterns emerged from the research, it became apparent
that a paradigm for evaluation would have to be a progressive profile
of the learning that would take into account many of the different
and evolving learning processes of the individual. A broader review
of the student's entire development within the Foundation Year Program would have to have a shared evaluation through a cross
section of representative faculty in the program.
The results from the research were never intended to be
conclusive. We realized from the start that sensory-based learning
is a difficult process to evaluate from traditional standards used in
education. The potential of such a process of inquiry permits the
researcher to ask for a set of queries that might provide for a deeper
form of evaluation unique to the students and their related learning
environment. Only in this context can qualitative methods be used to
profile their learning experiences in an expressive and meaningful
manner.
